“It was the opportunity to surround myself with an environment rich in academics, cutting-edge research and all-around great people.” This is how pediatrician Michael Burke describes what drew him to the University of Minnesota.

Burke is one of 13 new faculty members who recently joined the University of Minnesota’s Department of Pediatrics. These new recruits will enhance the department’s overall expertise and specifically strengthen the areas of pediatric hematology, oncology and bone marrow transplant, diabetes and emergency medicine.

The new faculty members, who began arriving in February, come to the University from some of the country’s most prestigious medical centers. “The Department of Pediatrics has had the most successful recruitment year in its history,” says John Schreiber, the Ruben-Bentson Chair and head of the Department of Pediatrics. “This has occurred due to the strength of the faculty and the outstanding support for the Department of Pediatrics from the Dean and the University of Minnesota. The success in recruitment also hinges on a new much more collaborative relationship with the University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital, Fairview.” The promise of a new replacement facility for the children’s hospital has been instrumental in the recruitment success, says Schreiber.

With the new faculty on board, the Department of Pediatrics has 113 faculty members.

Burke and colleague Susan Kearney both have a special interest in childhood cancers of the blood and will add their expertise to the Division of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation. Burke comes to the department from Northwestern University’s Children’s Memorial Hospital, and Kearney from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard University.

Kearney says: “The enthusiasm for new discoveries, the strong leadership, the compassion and kindness of all of the faculty and the clear opportunities for career development are but a few of the qualities that led to my decision to join the division.”

Ron Furnival and Mark Roback will anchor the department’s new Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine.

Furnival, coming from Banner Children’s Hospital in Mesa, Ariz., will head the new division. Furnival, a graduate of the University of Minnesota Medical School, is a recipient of the Distinguished Service Citation from the American Academy of Pediatrics. He is nationally recognized for his expertise in pediatric trauma and for enhancing patient safety.

Roback joins the Department of Pediatrics as professor in the new emergency medicine division. He was at the Denver Children’s Hospital and is an expert on sedation. He literally wrote the book on pediatric resuscitation (Pediatric Resuscitation: A Practical Approach, 2005).

The nine other new faculty members who have joined the Department of Pediatrics include:

• Glenn Gourley, director of research for the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (from Oregon Health and Science University in Portland)
• John Andrews, pediatric residency program director (from Children’s Hospital and Clinics of Minnesota)
• Dan Gruenstein, cardiology faculty (from Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital/Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio)
• Sameer Gupta, critical care faculty (from Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital/Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio)
• Dave Hanson, general pediatric/hospitalist (from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore)
• Jin-Young Han, infectious diseases and CIDMTR faculty (from Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Seattle)
• Brandon Nathan, endocrinology faculty (from Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio)
• Julia Steinke, nephrology faculty (from University of Minnesota Pediatric Nephrology Fellowship)
• Bryce Binstadt, rheumatology faculty (from Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital)